367 



MACr.EAY's KINGFISHER. 



/T^HE present species was 

 I originally described and 



ngured by Messrs. Jardine and 

 Selby in their " Illustrations 

 of Ornithology," and dedicated 

 to the late Hon. Alexander 

 iMacleay, F.R.S.,F.L.S.,Colonial 

 Secretary of New South Wales 

 in 1823, and one of the original 

 members of the Committee of 

 the Australian Museum from its 

 inception in 1836. There is a 

 large and beautiful old oil-paint- 

 ing of this gentleman, hung in 

 the Curator's room. 



Macleay's Kingfisher is widely 

 distributed over the coastal por- 

 tionsand the contiguous districts of the northern half of the Australian continent. The late 

 Mr T H Bowyer-Bower procured specimens near Derby, in North-western Australia m 1886, 

 and it has been recorded in many collections formed in the Northern Territory of South Australia 

 and Northern and Eastern Queensland. In New South Wales it is common from the Tweed 

 River to the Bellinger River District in the north-eastern portion of the State, and of its range 

 westward Messrs. J. D. Cox and A. G. Hamilton record a single specimen obtained by Mr. H. 

 Thurston at Holyoak Bridge, Mudgee, but evidently a straggler.^ In company with Mr. G. 

 Savidge I found it fairly plentiful in the Upper Clarence River District, where several sets of its 

 eggs were taken during my stay there in 1898. I also noted it on the Tweed River in 1907. In 

 Queensland Messrs. E. J. Cairn and Robt. Grant obtained numerous specimens near Cairns, and 

 Thave received many sets of its eggs from Mr. J. A. Boyd while resident at Ripple Creek, 

 Herbert River ; also eggs taken by Mr. Bertie Hislop, in the Bloomf^eld River District. 



It is undoubtedly the most brilliantly plumaged member of the genus Halcyon, and the white 

 patch on the quills is conspicuously displayed during flight. The figure represents an adult 

 male. 



Mr Frank Hislop sends me the following note :-- Halcyon machayi in the Bloomfield River 

 District North-eastern Queensland, is only seen in the forest land and often miles from water. 

 They build in Termites' nests on trees, and five eggs are generally laid. I do not think the birds 

 sit on their eggs much, as the heat in the nesting site in which they are is suflicient to hatch them. 

 When they have eggs or young ones in the nest the birds are very vicious, they will attack a 

 person when attempting to interfere with them. I have known them make a black come 

 down before he has been able to get the eggs, both birds coming at once from dififetent directions, 

 nearly always going for a person's head. They live on grasshoppers and other large insects. 

 The native name for them is ' Yindilly.' " 



From Duaringa, on the Dawson River, Queensland, Mr. H. G. Barnard writes me:- 

 ^^Halcvou madeayi is not a stationary species here ; the birds generally appear in the beginning of 

 September and soon get to work drilling holes in the White Ants' nests on trees where they 

 deposit their eggs four to six in number." 



From Copmanhurst, Upper Clarence District, New South Wales, Mr. George Savidge 

 sends me the following notes :-" //r:^" macleay, usually breeds in White Ants' nests on trees 

 • Froc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, 2nd Ser., Vol. IV., p. 402 (1S89). 



